You may have heard all about the benefits of strength training for adults, even for older adults. But you may have also heard that strength training is bad for kids. The claim is that strength training stunts the child’s growth. Resistance training, weight training, strength training – whatever you call it the truth is that it is great for kids, so long as it is done properly.

The Science Behind The Issue

The idea that strength training stunts the child’s growth is in fact incorrect. The growth plates (soft ends of a child’s bones that strengthen as the child matures) are still developing and can be susceptible to injury from repetitive movements like running. Obviously a large impact on the joints would be dangerous and something to avoid. But! Let’s do the maths. They say that when we run we have 7-10 times our bodyweight worth of force jolted through our feet, knees and hips. For a 50kg child this is anywhere from 350-500kg of force on their joints. Now consider if that child was performing a squat (a strength training exercise) with a 10kg weight (which would actually be a heavy weight for a child, most children will normally use their bodyweight as the resistance). In this case there would be a constant force of 60kg – minus the harsh jolting impact of running. You can see that properly performed strength training can in fact be safer than running for kids.

The Benefits

Having looked at how some of the risks are in fact unfounded lets now take a look at the benefits of strength training for kids. Muscle strengthening, improved body composition (muscle to fat ratio), improved posture, increased confidence, increase immune strength and, yes, decreased risk of injury from sports!

Then there are the more complex benefits such as improved insulin sensitivity (body handles sugar better) and calorie partitioning (energy consumed is better utilised rather than stored). Multiple articles could be written on the benefits of strength training so for now we will focus on a few rules of strength training for kids.

Proper Strength Training For Kids

1. Use appropriate weight. Kids do not need to lift heavy weights to see benefits from strength training.
2. Controlled rep speed. This will reduce the risk of injury and is something that should be monitored throughout the session.
3. Learn proper technique. This is extremely important. Most injuries from strength training arise from improper technique.
4. Constant Supervision. The required level of supervision depends on the type of strength training being performed, the age of the child and the child’s experience with strength training. Regardless, children should always be supervised when they are performing strength training.
5. Gradual Progression. Progression in the child’s training program should be slow enough to prevent overtraining but quick enough to allow constant improvement.

Strength training should be a part of everyone’s workout, and kids are no exception. When I work with younger clients we always include some form of strength training in our sessions. Why? Because it works and, when done properly, it is safe!